Homage to a latecomer

Next Sunday, June 16, the Valais new music duo UMS 'n JIP (Ulrike Mayer-Spohn and Javier Hagen) will perform a concert at the Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich together with Eva Nievergelt, soprano, and Walter Prossnitz, piano, to mark the 80th birthday of Zurich composer Maria Porten. Maria Porten is a late-comer: born in the midst of the turmoil of war in Germany, she was initially denied a career as a composer. She worked as a musicologist and professor in the USA, then in Zurich, and finally dared to follow her vocation as a composer at the age of 60. Politically committed, with a sure instinct for catchy and topical texts and a vivid compositional language, she has created a rich oeuvre of over 50 works over the past 20 years. Many of these have been documented by Swiss Radio or recorded on CD. She has been a loyal companion and supporter of UMS 'n JIP from the very beginning: in return, UMS 'n JIP have performed her works in over 40 countries, including at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, at Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and at the Cairo Contemporary Music Days. UMS 'n JIP are one of the most productive and active new music laboratories of the present day: they have given over 1000 concerts since 2007, performing individual works over 100 times. Their exemplary and sustainable production concept as performers and composers has been recognized with over 20 international awards. With this concert, they are not only presenting a tribute to Maria Porten, but also to the courage to take on new challenges at every stage of life. The concert in Zurich starts at 8 pm.

Further concerts will take place in Basel (today, June 14, Unternehmen Mitte, 8 p.m.) and Bern (June 17, 8 p.m., Ono, das Kulturlokal).